ITV's highly-anticipated thriller, After the Flood, made its debut on Wednesday night and while plenty of viewers were enthralled by the compelling plot, others were left asking the same question. The series, which stars Happy Valley and Peaky Blinders star Sophie Rundle, is set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Waterside, which is hit by a devastating flood. When the body of a dead man is found in a lift at an underground car park, police assume he became trapped in the flood. But PC Joanna Marshall becomes obsessed with uncovering what really happened.
The opening scene sees PC Joanna, who is heavily pregnant, and her colleague, Deepa Das (Tripti Tripuraneni) wading through the raging waters in an attempt to save a baby from being swept away by the current.
Taking to social media, fans questioned whether a heavily pregnant police officer would be allowed to participate in the rescue mission in real life. One person penned: "Would the #police allow a pregnant officer (soon to go on maternity leave) wade around in flood water/sewage/fast flowing rivers?" while another asked: "#AfterTheFlood surely a heavily pregnant police officer would not be sent out in those conditions?"
© ITVA third person wrote: "A lone pregnant police officer wading through dirty floodwater? I'm not sure that would happen in the real world."
Other viewers, however, praised the thrilling drama. One person hailed the show as "brilliant", while another applauded Sophie's performance as PC Joanna: "Thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of #AfterTheFlood!! Sophie Rundle is absolutely amazing as Jo Marshall!! She's so captivating."
Tripti Tripuraneni, who plays Deepa, spoke to HELLO! about what it was like to film the water scenes. "With Deepa, what really attracted to me was the action woman of it all. Getting to do that big opening sequence was amazing and you don't get to do that every day, it's fantastic. And she's also ready to get stuck into everything."
© ITVShe went on to add: "There was a running joke that every time I came in [to film] it was a water day, but I loved it."
Other viewers who tuned into the drama couldn't help but wonder how the dramatic water sequence was filmed.
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One person asked: "Desperate to know how they achieved the scene in the street full of flood water. Was it a real street that was due to be demolished, so they flooded the area? Or a built set on a lot with just the fronts and roofs?" while another penned: "Sorry how was this filmed? They flooded a whole street and all the houses downstairs will be ruined #AfterTheFlood."
© VISHAL SHARMASpeaking on This Morning on Wednesday, the show's star Sophie revealed that the cast filmed the opening scene at a special facility. "For the opening flood sequence, we went to this water course in Teeside," she explained. "They film a lot of dramas there and do a lot of emergency service training. They have control over the water and it can be quite low and they can get it up to really strong currents."
She continued: "With the flooded street that you see later on, they built this massive water tank, it was basically a huge paddling pool. [They] filled it with water and built the fronts of the houses and we got in."
